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Among the gold gramophones handed out at the recent 67th Grammy Awards was one for best reggae album: Bob Marley: One Love — Music Inspired by the Film (Deluxe). Now in addition to the soundtrack and the global box office success of its accompanying 2024 biopic, the celebration of the reggae pioneer’s generational legacy continues in 2025 in honor of what would have been his 80th birthday (Feb. 6).
In partnership with the Marley family, Acoustic Sounds’ Analogue Productions label is announcing its reissue of seven of the late artist’s most iconic albums. With specific release dates to be announced, the album series will launch this spring and is centered around the theme of uprising — also the title of Marley’s last studio project released during his lifetime. Reflective of his spiritual and prophetic vision, the 1980 set includes memorable tracks such as “Redemption Song,” “Could You Be Loved” and “Pimper’s Paradise.”
The other six albums comprising the series are: 1973’s Catch a Fire (“Stir It Up,” “Concrete Jungle,” “Kinky Reggae”), 1973’s Burnin (“Get Up Stand Up,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Burnin’ & Lootin’”), 1974’s Natty Dread (“No Woman No Cry,” “Them Belly Full [But We Hungry],” “Lively Up Yourself”), 1976’s Rastaman Vibration (“Roots Rock Reggae,” “War,” “Rat Race”), 1977’s Exodus (“Three Little Birds,” “Jamming,” “One Love”) and 1978’s Kaya (“Is This Love,” “Satisfy My Soul,” “Easy Skanking”).
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Bob Marley, ‘Kaya’
Acoustic Sounds is reissuing the albums in a number of deluxe configurations, varying by title: 33rpm UHQR (ultra high quality record), 45rpm UHQR, 2LP 45rpm, SACD (super audio CD) and reel-to-reel tape (15 IPS on 1/4-inch tape). The UHQR and 2LP 45rpm releases will be sourced from the original master tapes and mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. Pressing will be handled by Acoustic Sounds’ Quality Record Pressing plant in Salina, Kansas.
“We’re honored to be working with the Marley Family to give these records the treatment they deserve,” said Acoustic Sounds founder Chad Kassem in a statement. “The experience of going to Jamaica, visiting Tuff Gong and meeting the people carrying Bob Marley’s legacy forward was incredible, and we believe this series is a beautiful tribute to one of music’s greatest innovators.”
More about Kassem’s time in Jamaica and the making of Uprising can be found HERE. Acoustic Sounds’ recent vinyl releases include Steely Dan’s 1970s recordings, Buena Vista Social Club’s self-titled album and Miles Davis’ Birth of the Blue.
Warner Music Group is buying a controlling stake in Tempo Music Investment, a catalog company that owns rights to songs by Wiz Khalifa, Florida Georgia Line and Brett James, in a deal sources say is worth around $450 million. WMG said it will acquire the stake from Tempo’s founder, Providence Equity Partners. Providence will remain a […]
After news broke of the death of Murder Inc. Records co-founder Irv Gotti on Wednesday (Feb. 5), tributes poured in from the hip-hop world, including from the label where he got his start, Def Jam. Gotti started out in A&R at the hip-hop label, before co-founding the culture-dominating Murder Inc. imprint with his brother, Chris […]
Irv Gotti — who co-founded the hitmaking Murder Inc. Records label and helped make early 2000s superstars out of Ja Rule and Ashanti — has died after suffering a stroke, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed. He was 54 years old. Alongside brother Chris, Irv Gotti (born Domingo Lorenzo Jr.) launched Murder Inc. in 1998 as an […]
Reggaetón star Nicky Jam has signed a new global agreement with Virgin Music Group after spending more than a decade with Sony Music Latin.
Under the new agreement, Nicky Jam’s new music will be distributed by Virgin Music Group, which will also administer and supervise Nicky Jam’s catalog for YouTube and will work some material in digital platforms in different territories.
Nicky Jam (born Nick Rivera Camerino) disclosed the terms and impetus behind the deal during an exclusive interview with Billboard in Miami.
“I went with my gut,” he tells Billboard, noting that his contract with Sony had been up and he had met with several labels. “I thought it was the best thing to do. I have too much respect for Afo [Verde, chairman of Sony Music Latin Iberia] and my Sony family. I owe a lot to them and I love them very much. It’s just that sometimes you feel you have to move. I’m very spontaneous and that’s just the way I am. I could say I’m a bohemian. I take my luggage and I go wherever I have to go.”
In this case, Nicky Jam decided to go with a company that is giving him broad latitude. He’ll get to retain ownership of his masters, and will also have wide latitude in determining when he releases his music.
“It’s a distribution contract, but under that contract I can come out with music whenever I want. They are not going to mess with my creative part and that’s beautiful,” says Jam.
Nicky Jam’s new label deal coincides with a series of major changes in both his personal and professional life. Last year, he got married (to 22-yer-old model Juana Valentina Varón], split with his longtime manager Juan Diego Medina and spoke openly about his problems with alcohol and quitting drinking.
From left: Larry Gonzalez, David Daza, Michael Cantor (VMG SVP, Business Affairs and Development), Chi Orjiakor (VMG VP, Strategy), Victor Gonzalez (VMG, President of Latin America and Iberia), Nicky Jam (Artist), and Armando Rodriguez (VMG SVP/General Manager of Latin U.S.).
Courtesy of Nicky Jam
Now, a fit and trim Nicky Jam is readying to release new music that he says reflects his current, positive state of mind. “If you listen to my last album, it was called Insomnio. It was mostly what I was going through: Drinking, partying, it was all dark,” says the singer. “This is the new Nicky Jam,” he adds.
“Nicky has been a true pioneer in Latin music,” says Victor González, president of Virgin Music Group for Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. “Having him choose Virgin Music Group for this new chapter of his career is incredibly rewarding for me and our entire team.”
Armando Rodríguez, general manager of Virgin Music Group for the U.S. Latin market adds: “Nicky is creating incredible music, and we are excited to work alongside him—not only on his upcoming releases but also in developing a strategic approach for his entire catalog.”
In the past couple of years, Virgin has notably expanded its Latin footprint, signing major names in Mexican music like Carín León, Pepe Aguilar, Angela Aguilar and Espinoza Paz. In the urban realm, Nicky Jam is their biggest get. The Puerto Rican star brings a legacy of hits, including the “El Perdón,” the 2015 smash alongside Enrique Iglesias that spent 30 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart. All told, Nicky has charted nine songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and 58 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, including five Number 1s. This week, he ranked at Nol 162 in streams globally on Spotify, a testament to his lasting appeal.
“This agreement with Virgin Music Group marks a new chapter in my artistic journey. I have always believed in the importance of evolution and adaptation, and I am confident that, together with Virgin Music Group, we will achieve incredible things,” says Nicky Jam.
Will Drake’s pending defamation lawsuit stop Kendrick Lamar from performing “Not Like Us” during his Super Bowl halftime performance? Legal experts say it might — but that it really shouldn’t.
Under normal circumstances, it’s silly to even ask the question. Obviously a Super Bowl halftime performer will play their chart-topping banger — a track that just swept record and song of the year at the Grammys and was arguably music’s most significant song of the past year.
But these are very much not normal circumstances. Last month, Drake filed a lawsuit over “Not Like Us,” accusing Universal Music Group of defaming him by boosting the scathing diss track. The case, which doesn’t name Lamar as a defendant, claims UMG spread the song’s “malicious narrative” — namely, that Drake is a pedophile — despite knowing it was false.
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That pending legal action makes it fair to wonder: When Lamar steps onto the world’s biggest stage on Sunday night (Feb. 9), will he face pressure to avoid the whole mess by just skipping “Not Like Us” entirely?
He shouldn’t, legal experts say, and for a pretty simple reason: Drake’s lawsuit against UMG is a legal loser. “I don’t think the case is strong at all,” says Samantha Barbas, a legal historian and an expert in defamation law at the University of Iowa’s College of Law.
For Drake to eventually win the case over “Not Like Us,” he’ll need to show that Lamar’s claims about him are provably false assertions — meaning the average person would hear them and assume Kendrick was stating actual facts. Barbas says that’ll be tough for Drake to do about a diss track, where fans expect bombast and “rhetorical hyperbole” more so than objective reality.
“In the context of a rap battle, the average listener is going to know that the allegations aren’t to be taken seriously,” she says. “Taunts and wild exaggerations are par for the course.”
Another challenge for Drake is that he’s a public figure. Under key First Amendment rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, a public figure like Drake must show that UMG either knew the lyrics were false or that the company acted with reckless disregard for the truth — a legal standard that’s intentionally difficult to meet so that rich and famous people don’t abuse libel lawsuits to squelch free speech.
“A high-profile public figure like Drake immediately enters the case with a high burden of proof,” says Roy Gutterman, the director of the Newhouse School’s Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University.
UMG’s attorneys will also likely point to the fact that Drake himself made harmful allegations against Kendrick earlier in the same exchange of diss tracks, including that Lamar had abused his fiancée and that one of his children was fathered by another man. Were those defamatory statements of fact, or merely the exercise of artistic license within the conventions of a specific genre of music?
“Factoring in the context here — music and art within an ongoing dispute between rival musicians — he has an even tougher case,” Gutterman says.
So if Drake’s case is likely to eventually be dismissed, then there’s no reason for Kendrick to hold back on Sunday, right?
Not exactly.
For starters, Federal Communications Commission rules prohibit the airing of “obscene, indecent, or profane content” on broadcast television during primetime hours. To avoid those rules, Super Bowl halftime performers typically avoid curse words or overtly sexual material — something that would probably already preclude the “pedophile” line and other lyrics in “Not Like Us.”
Corporate legal departments are also famously risk averse, and often prefer to play it safe rather than potentially face expensive litigation, even if they’d ultimately win. That could lead any of the big companies involved here to put pressure on Kendrick to skip “Not Like Us.” His label, UMG, has vowed to fight back against Drake’s “frivolous” lawsuit, but might not want to add complications mid-litigation; the game’s broadcaster, Fox, or the NFL itself might worry about getting added to the suit as defendants.
Gutterman said it would be “a significant stretch of liability law” for Drake to successfully sue Fox or the NFL simply because Kendrick played “Not Like Us” at the halftime show. But in practice, that might not be how their in-house attorneys are thinking about it.
“The threat of litigation can have a chilling effect on speech,” Barbas says. “The safe thing to do is not to publish or broadcast.”
Reps for Lamar did not return a request for comment on whether he’ll perform the song. The British tabloid newspaper The Sun, citing anonymous sources, reported last week that Kendrick has faced pressure to skip the track but plans to perform it anyway and “won’t be silenced.” But that report could not be confirmed by Billboard and was not widely re-reported by other outlets.
Asked whether they have a position on whether Lamar plays the song, reps for UMG, Fox, the NFL and Roc Nation (Jay-Z’s company that produces the halftime show) all either declined to comment or did not return requests for comment.
When the show kicks off on Sunday night, the most likely outcome is probably somewhere down the middle: That Kendrick plays the song’s already-iconic instrumental hook and perhaps some of the lyrics, but skips any of the portions that are directly at play in Drake’s lawsuit.
“It wouldn’t be surprising,” Barbas says, “if the challenged lyrics are changed.”
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) announced on Tuesday (Feb. 4) that it would issue takedown notices to Spotify for 2,500 podcast episodes on the platform that allegedly contain “unlicensed musical works” from 19 NMPA member publishers.
“Spotify has thousands of unlicensed songs in its podcasts, which it has done nothing to remedy. This takedown action comes as no surprise, we have warned of this issue for some time,” says NMPA president and CEO David Israelite of the takedown notices. According to the NMPA, this is just the start of the takedown requests, and the demands will continue to roll out.
This is the latest of many retaliatory actions the NMPA has taken against Spotify since last March, when Spotify significantly cut payments to NMPA’s members for premium subscriptions. By adding audiobooks into its premium subscription tiers, Spotify argued it qualified for a discounted royalty rate, known as “bundle,” given it would now have to pay for books and music from the same price tag that was once just for music. Israelite said at the time that he would “declare war” on Spotify for this move, and launched a number of actions to fight back.
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This included sending cease and desist notices for podcast and video content on its platform that were allegedly infringing on music IP; a legislative proposal, asking for the overhaul of the statutory license; complaints to the FTC and nine state attorneys general; and more. Around the same time, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) also fought back by filing a lawsuit against Spotify for the move to bundle premium subscriptions, calling it “unlawful.”
On Sunday, Jan. 26, the Spotify bundling issue was brought back into the headlines when Universal Music Group announced a new direct deal with Spotify which included changes both to the recorded music and publishing royalty rates. This marked the first direct deal between Spotify and a publisher since the passage of the Music Modernization Act (MMA), and sources close to the deal say that the agreement included improved remuneration for UMG’s publishing company, Universal Music Publishing Group, and its songwriters.
Still, all other publishers, most of which are members of the NMPA, remain on the baseline bundle rate. The NMPA told Billboard at the time that the deal was “good news for the entire industry” and that “a rising tide lifts all boats, and this signals that Spotify is coming back to the table,” but the organization also added it had no plans to stop any of the actions it had already set in motion against Spotify, and neither did the MLC.
A few days later, on Jan. 29, the MLC’s lawsuit against Spotify was dismissed, with a federal judge saying that Spotify’s move to bundling was supported by “unambiguous” regulations. The judge is not giving the MLC a chance to refile and said the law is clear. Still, if the MLC wants to, it can challenge the ruling at the federal appeals court.
These takedown requests make it clear that the NMPA is not ready to bury the hatchet with Spotify. Among the 2,500 takedown requests are podcasts that allegedly contain unlicensed musical works from publishers like ABKCO, Anthem Entertainment, Big Machine Music, BMG, Concord Music Publishing, Downtown Music Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Kobalt, Mayimba Music, peermusic, Primary Wave Music, Reservoir, The Royalty Network, Inc., Sony Music Publishing, Spirit Music Group, Ultra Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, and Wixen Music Publishing.
Israelite adds: “Podcasts are a growing source of revenue for songwriters and publishers, and it is essential that podcasts provide lawfully produced entertainment. This is not hard to do, and Spotify knows, and has known, how to fix this problem for their users. We hope podcast hosts will stand up for their fellow creators and demand that Spotify do better. Spotify will stop at nothing to undervalue songwriters on behalf of its bottom line. Look no further than its recent bundling scheme and its ill-conceived appeal of songwriters’ rate increase in CRB III. We will not stop until the platform fixes its podcast problem, and all other areas where songwriters are not earning what they deserve.”
Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos develops a third straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Feb. 8), earning 117,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 30 (down 22%), according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, new albums from Teddy Swims, Kane Brown and Central Cee all debut.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new, Feb. 8, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Feb. 4). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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Of the 117,000 equivalent album units earned by Debí Tirar Más Fotos in the week ending Jan. 30, SEA units comprise 114,000 (down 22%; equaling 156.18 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it’s No. 1 for a fourth week on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 2,500 (down 45%; falling 11-48 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 31%).
SZA’s former leader SOS is a non-mover at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (87,000 equivalent album units; down 2%) and Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX rises 4-3 (60,000; up 1%).
Teddy Swims scores his highest-charting album and first top 10, as I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) debuts at No. 4. The set earned 50,000 equivalent album units, with album sales comprising 26,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprising 23,000 (equaling 30.38 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 17 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units totaling 1,000.
The album’s launch of 50,000 marks Swims’ biggest week yet by units earned, while his sales bow of 26,000 is also his best sales week ever. Plus, his streaming start (30.38 million) marks his best streaming week for an album.
The LP is the follow-up to the singer-songwriter’s I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1), which spawned 2024’s year-end No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Lose Control.” That set topped out at No. 17 but has spent 69 weeks on the list (it slips 21-25 on the latest chart).
The new album was preceded by a pair of charting hits on the weekly Hot 100: “Bad Dreams” and “Are You Even Real” (the latter with Giveon).
The first-week sales of the new album were bolstered by its availability across eight vinyl variants (including a signed edition) and two CD variants (including a signed edition).
Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time climbs 8-5 on the latest Billboard 200 (41,000 equivalent album units; up 9%) while Sabrina Carpenter’s chart-topping Short n’ Sweet stays at No. 6 (just over 40,000; down 7%).
Kane Brown achieves his fifth top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200, as The High Road rides in at No. 7 with 40,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 20,000 (equaling 26.76 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 21 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 19,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000.
The High Road was preceded by four entries on the Hot Country Songs chart: “I Can Feel It,” “Miles On It” (with Marshmello), “Backseat Driver” and “Gorgeous.”
The album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across nine vinyl variants (including a signed edition), four CD variants (including a signed edition), and three digital download variants (a standard version, plus two with alternative cover art).
Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us falls 5-8 on the latest Billboard 200, with 37,000 equivalent album units earned (down 28%).
Rapper Central Cee scores his first top 10, with his first charting album, as Can’t Rush Greatness bows at No. 9 with nearly 37,000 equivalent album units earned. SEA units comprise 27,000 of that sum (equaling 36.91 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 14 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 10,000 (debuting at No. 5 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
The album was preceded by two charting hits on both Hot Rap Songs and the all-genre Hot 100. On the former, “BAND4BAND” (with Lil Baby) hit No. 4, while “GBP” (featuring 21 Savage) has reached No. 16. On the Hot 100, the tracks hit Nos. 17 and 92, respectively, through the most recently published chart, dated Feb. 1.
Central Cee, who hails from London, scored his first U.S. chart hit with “Doja,” reaching No. 36 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 2022. He’s charted a total of seven hits on that ranking, including collabs with Drake, J. Cole and Ice Spice.
Can’t Rush Greatness debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. Official Albums Chart (his second leader there). Central Cee has notched eight top 10-charting hits on the U.K. Official Singles Chart, including the No. 1 “Sprinter” (with Dave). He also recently nabbed three BRIT Award nominations, including artist of the year.
Closing out the latest top 10 on the Billboard 200 is Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, slipping 9-10 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned (down 2%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Ben Vaughn, president/CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, died on Thursday (Jan. 30). A cause of death was not disclosed. He was 49.
The much-beloved Vaughn, who was Billboard‘s Country Power Players executive of the year in 2020, joined Warner Chappell Nashville (WCN) in 2012 and was promoted to president in 2017, adding the role of CEO in 2019. The Belmont University alumnus was honored with Belmont’s Music City Milestone Award in 2015.
Warner Chappell Music co-chairs Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall released the following memo to Warner Chappell Music staffers that read in part, “It is with broken hearts that we share the unthinkable news that Ben Vaughn, President & CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, passed away this morning. Our deepest condolences are with his family and many friends.”
Under Vaughn, WCN had consistently dominated the country music publishing market. In 2024, they were crowned ASCAP Country Music and BMI Publisher of the Year (for the fifth time) and marked their third consecutive quarter at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay publisher rankings. Apart from Q3 of 2022 to Q3 of 2023, Warner Chappell Nashville had held the quarterly top spot, dating back to the first quarter of 2017. In November 2019, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC all named WCN their country publisher of the year — only the third time a publishing company has been honored as such, and a first for WCN.
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Among the singer/songwriters Vaughn worked with were Thomas Rhett, Zach Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Riley Green, Warren Zeiders, Hunter Phelps, Bailey Zimmerman, Jessi Alexander, Liz Rose, Josh Phillips, Thomas Rhett, Nicolle Galyon and Randy Montana.
The father of three was extraordinarily passionate about songwriters, especially developing ones, and relished helping young singer/songwriters find their voice and their first record deal. “There’s so many people that want that record deal, so helping someone get to that spot is one of the hardest things in the music business,” Vaughn told Billboard in 2020. “So the job is to take away the nos and help that person get to a place where you get a yes.”
Tributes poured in quickly. Jon Platt, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Publishing, who worked with Vaughn at EMI and then brought him over to Warner Chappell in 2012, said in a statement, “I am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend Ben Vaughn, and united in grief with the entire songwriting community. Ben dedicated his life to songwriters. As an exceptional leader and mentor, he leaves an indelible mark on the music business. I extend my deepest condolences to his loved ones and all who were touched by his spirit. I feel privileged to have known Ben and shared a close relationship with him. He was the best of the best and I will miss him greatly.”
“Ben was warm, welcoming, and always someone that supported and elevated the American songwriter,” says Lucas Keller, president/founder of Milk & Honey. “The world will not be the same without him – this is a loss most cannot process today. We met 15 years ago on my first trip to Nashville when he was at EMI, and I’ll never forget him.”
“Our hearts are heavy today in learning about the passing of longtime ACM Board Member and former ACM Board Chair, and good friend to all of us, Ben Vaughn,” added Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “Ben was a champion of the country music genre and strong advocate for songwriters and good songs. He served as board chair of the Academy in 2018 and was the first music publisher to serve as chairman in the Academy’s history, in addition to serving on the ACM Lifting Lives board. On behalf of the ACM Board, ACM Lifting Lives Board, and the ACM staff, we send our condolences to Ben’s family, friends, coworkers, and all of those who crossed his path and were lifted up by his passion. His memory will live on forever through the great music he made happen.”
Vaughn grew up in the tiny community of Sullivan, Ky., and comes from “a proud tradition of coal miners, teachers and mechanics,” he told Billboard. As a high school student, he got a job as a weekend DJ at country radio station WMSK-FM, which set him on a path to Nashville. “I would devour the vinyl and read all the publishing and writer credits,” he told Billboard. “I thought, ‘I want to go where these people are.’ ”
That led him to Nashville’s Belmont University and an internship at WCN in 1994 under then-executive vp Tim Wipperman, who taught Vaughn the intricacies of publishing. While there, he got to know producer Scott Hendricks, whose Big Tractor publishing company had a partnership with WCN. Hendricks was so impressed with Vaughn that he eventually asked him to run Big Tractor — while Vaughn was still a college student. “He said, ‘I’m going to give you six months to see how it goes, but if you quit school, I’ll fire you,’ ” recalls Vaughn.
Through the decades, Vaughn remained in wonderment of songwriters and the new worlds they created. “It is awe-inspiring how much talent it takes to create something out of nothing that literally can make the whole world sing,” he said. “The most sacred responsibility is to help connect writers’ dreams to their goals. The fact that as publishers we are trusted to hold that space for them is everything.”
Moot and Marshall’s full memo to WMG:
To everyone at WMG,
It is with broken hearts that we share the unthinkable news that Ben Vaughn, President & CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, passed away this morning. Our deepest condolences are with his family and many friends.
Ben has led our Nashville team since 2012, and we know that many of you around the world got to know him over the years. Anyone who had the pleasure of working with him will be as shocked and saddened as we are.
First and foremost, Ben was an extraordinary human being. He met everyone with enthusiasm, warmth, and generosity. His smile was huge, and his sense of humor was infectious.
He was always a passionate advocate of songwriters and a topflight music publisher. The Nashville community has lost one of its greatest champions, and he will be profoundly missed by so many across our company and the entire industry.
We are planning to visit the Nashville team very soon and thank you all for helping support them through this awful tragedy.
With love,
Guy & Carianne
This is a developing story.
In December, Influence Media Partners, the music investing company backed by BlackRock and the Warner Music Group, joined the growing music industry trend of using asset-backed securitization to finance acquisitions and operations by raising about $360 million through a private placement in a deal lead by Goldman Sachs, sources say.
Besides the Influence Media deal, the waning months of 2024 also saw Concord raising $850 million through its third asset-backed bond offering run by Apollo Global Management in October; while Blackstone led a $1.47 billion securitization for its Hipgnosis Song Asset company. In each deal, the bonds and notes are collateralized by the music assets and income streams of the respective companies. The offerings from Concord and Hipgnosis have public filings with the appropriate regulatory agencies, but the Influence Media offering, as a private placement, does not have to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
As interest rates rise, asset-backed securities (ABS) are expected to become increasingly popular funding vehicles for music companies because they have fixed, five-year interest rates. In the past, Concord CEO Bob Valentine has compared these securitizations to fixed, low-interest-rate loans.
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Influence Media co-managing partner Lynn Hazan, the former CFO for Epic Records, worked with BlackRock executives on the deal, according to sources.
Influence Media, which was founded in 2019, has since bought stakes in some 30 music catalogs, and in early 2022 received additional funding to the tune of $750 million provided by BlackRock and the Warner Music Group. The acquired catalogs include music by Enrique Iglesias, Future, Logic, Julia Michaels, Ali Tamposi, Tainy and Harry Styles collaborator Tyler Johnson. The new funding is expected to be deployed in buying more music catalog assets.
Initially, it looked like the Influence Media Partners asset-backed securities offering was slow in coming together as bond investors looked at the Concord and Hipgnosis offerings, but in the end, the Influence offering — which also had Truist as the co-structuring and co-placement agent — came together nicely for the New York-based music investment company, attracting funding from about a half-dozen investors, sources say.